Contra Costa Times[url=http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/15110978.htm]Record heat sears Bay Area'Unusual' temperatures lead to power outages, illnesses and the cancellation of a concert[/url]July 24, 2006

In one of the strongest heat waves to hit the Bay Area in recent years, menacing temperatures continued Sunday to knock down record highs, causing widespread blackouts and heat-related illnesses.

The National Weather Service reported that at least half a dozen cities in the Bay Area broke long-standing temperature highs.

"It has been very unusual," said Brooke Bingaman, a National Weather Service meteorologist. "A lot of our trained weather spotters are reporting to us that in 20 to 30 years they've never seen temperatures like this before."

The Tri-Valley was hit particularly hard by the scorching heat. Reporting a high of 113 on Sunday, Livermore broke its previous record of 109, which was set in 1906. The city of San Ramon, which the weather service has tracked only recently, came in close behind with 112 for Sunday's high.

The daily triple-digit heat put stress on the power grid, leaving 462,000 in the Bay Area without power the entire weekend, some for several days. San Jose was hardest hit, with 49,000 households and businesses without power.

As of Sunday night, PG&E reported that approximately 32,000 households and businesses in Contra Costa County and 117,000 in the Bay Area were without power, said spokeswoman Mariana Hernandez.

"Energy conservation is critical," she said. "Keep your air conditioner down; we're asking for 78 degrees, and 80 even better."

PG&E also asked that people use their power-hungry appliances, including dishwashers, washers, dryers and televisions, in the late-evening hours to help the power grid.

Power was expected to be restored to residents in most of those areas by 8 p.m. Sunday, Hernandez said.

Only time I remember being without electricity over a week, was the blizzard of '77. Temps 20 degrees below zero, and fierce winds. This house does not protect against wind well--heck it is over 200 years old. Made with round tree trunks in places, and hune ones in 'visible' ones.

I swear, if I hadn't had three dogs at the time, I would probably have frozen to death. They and I kept each other alive.

No electricity means no heat and no water. Yup, blizzard of '77. I wonder if there will be a 30th anniversary next year?

But it is far worse to have the heat! That has to be horrible! I feel for all those poor people...

The heat wave that has gripped Europe this summer has been breaking records across the continent. In Germany, dramatically high temperatures made this July the second hottest since 1901. A 1911 record for the highest July temperature in Britain was broken when a village in Surrey hit 36.5 degrees Celsius (97.7 degrees Fahrenheit). And the Dutch meteorological institute said this July was the hottest month in the Netherlands since temperatures were first measured in 1706.

Even though it has cooled down somewhat in the past few days, last month was still three-and-a-half degrees warmer than average, said Gerhard Müller-Westermaier, an expert in climate monitoring at Germany's National Meteorology Service. He said that the heat wave is part of global warming.

"It fits the picture and it will continue to get warmer," Müller-Westermaier said. "We have had a warming of about 0.8 degrees since the beginning of the 20th century and the forecast says that in the next 100 years, we may have temperatures 1.5 to 5.5 degrees warmer. A summer like this one will become a normal summer."

Despite the many summer storms that swept across Germany, the country had less than 70 percent of the average July rainfall. This had a severe impact on the agricultural industry. In the eastern German state of Brandenburg, for example, farmers said their wheat yield was down some 40 to 50 percent.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: German farmers feel the heatAccording to Müller-Westermaier, more heat required more precipitation. But he said rainfall trends due to global warming have become more difficult to predict.

CNN just reported that July was the second hottest summer on record, the other being 1933- the dust bowl years. Imagine it hotter each year coming and grimace. Better get out your human rotisseries and set yourselves on even burn.

_________________Completely sane world
madness the only freedom

An ability to see both sides of a question
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Well, 164 people died in California alone... and thousands of head of cattle... crops are ruined all over the nation... heat begets drought... drought begets crop failures... crop falilures begets high prices for food... it also begets famine... famine begets war over resources...

got a new planet?

no?

then maybe it's time to start doing more than just DENYING anything is wrong, cuz if you want to discuss the economic impact, then one should discuss what will happen if we continue down the GOP course of inaction...